Chapter 43: Complications

Unfortunately, Sobek discovered that he was quite tired: even though he needed less sleep now, he had not slept for an entire night for several days. So he ended up falling asleep this time, which wasn't a good idea at all. From his point of view, the little girl would have remained stationary in the same place where he had left her. Jocelyne, however, had other plans. When the sun rose, she opened her eyes and found that the 'spinosaurus' hadn't yet awakened. She immediately understood that this was her chance. Very quickly she got out of the bed and, being careful to not make any noise, she walked off into the forest. The idea of walking alone in the middle of that jungle terrified her, but the logic told her it was the best thing to do to survive. She still didn't know why the 'spinosaurus' (she decided to identify it as a spinosaurus since she didn't know what it was) was helping her instead of eating her, but she didn't want to discover how long the situation would remain stable. As far as she knew, the 'spinosaurus' could change its attitude at any moment and devour her. She had to get away from the big predator as long as she had the opportunity. The tire tracks were still fresh on the ground. If she had followed them sooner or later she would have reached civilization. All she had to do was move in silence and through the bushes so as not to be discovered by anyone... or better, anything. She walked towards the direction where the traces of the cars were leading, but she found out that the undertaking was more difficult than expected. The ground wasn't always moist and soft and the wheels had struggled to imprint itself on it. Furthermore, many animals had passed and had ruined part of the tracks. Jocelyne had to do her best to be able to keep following the right tracks, but several times she found herself going in circles. And finally, she was faced with something that made her blood run cold. In the middle of the trees, lying quietly to sunbathe, there was a large varan. Jocelyne wasn't very well versed in those creatures, but she was pretty sure that the six-meters lizard was a megalania. Megalanias were the largest varans that ever existed: they could reach more than twice the length of a Komodo dragon, and like it they were dangerous predators. Fortunately the one in front of Jocelyne didn't look aggressive, but it gave her a cold look that made it clear it didn't want to be disturbed. The little girl didn't think twice and quickly turned back, stopping only when she had put at least a hundred meters from the megalania, but only at that point she realized she had lost the track. "No!" she thought in panic, looking frantically in every direction for a sign that might lead her back on the right path. "No! What can I do now?" Fear gripped her heart like a vise. She didn't know how to orient. She had no idea which way the west was, or which direction she had to take. She was completely unable to find her way to home. She was stuck in the forest. It was incredible what effect fear could have on the human psyche: within seconds, it seemed to Jocelyne that everything in the forest was staring at her. She felt thousands of eyes on her and kept hearing the sounds of creeping things, footsteps, growls and hisses. Whenever the wind made the leaves move slightly her heart threatened to stop for the terror. It almost seemed to her that the trees were watching her and that their branches had turned into bony claws that threatened to take her. "Calm down... calm down!" she screamed at herself, but her brain wasn't responding, her survival instinct was completely out of control, she was too scared. In the end she curled up against a tree and began counting the leaves on the branches over her one by one until her mind cleared completely and finally her heart returned to beating at an almost normal speed. "Ok... ok. I am calm. It's okay. It's all okay" she thought, returning to her feet. She looked at her hands, which no matter how much she tried to keep them still kept shaking as if an inordinate amount of electric current passed through them. "I have to go west. West. How do I find west?". Because of the trees she couldn't see the sun but... "Yes! If I remember correctly, the trunks are mossy towards the north, because the sun warms less! So, the west is in that direction. I just have to continue in that exactly direction. If I walk through the bushes and keep my guard up and I can avoid being noticed by the bigger animals, and at night I can sleep in the top of the trees. I should also be able to find edible berries and fruits. I just have to..." CRUNCH! This time the clatter of jaws wasn't in her mind. For a moment her lungs seemed to go numb as she listened to the rhythmic sound of broken bones. While she had fled from the megalania she hadn't looked in which direction she was going, and in fear she hadn't checked where she was. But now that she was lucid, she could hear that continuous noises of jaws came from behind the tree on which she was resting. Trembling from head to toe, Jocelyne peered out from the tree trunk. A few meters from her there was the carcass of something that looked like a deer, and next to it was a huge reptile that was tearing it apart. It looked like a crocodile, but it had a slimmer tail and the legs were placed under the body. Its head was covered with thorns and its mouth was bristling with teeth with which it swallowed huge chunks of its prey, including bones. Jocelyne's breathing became increasingly labored, a clear sign of a panic attack. She recognized it very well. A kaprosuchus. That was a kaprosuchus, a huge six-meter land crocodile that could easily feed on even small dinosaurs. Jocelyne wanted to leave but her legs had turned to stone. She could no longer move. She prayed intensely that the kaprosuchus wouldn't have noticed her, but unfortunately for her humans weren't champions in hiding: her breath was too strong and she was against the wind, which didn't mask her scent. In fact after a few minutes the kaprosuchus, which by now had devoured almost all the deer, raised its head and sniffed the air, emitting deep grunts. "Don't notice me, don't notice me, don't notice me...!" Jocelyne begged intensely in her mind, clenching her teeth so tightly that she wouldn't have been surprised if one of them would have broken. The kaprosuchus slowly approached the tree, but suddenly it stopped. It sniffed the air intensely and then it let out a yelp. The second later Jocelyne saw it appear at her side and she feared the worst, but the crocodile didn't stop and ran off into the thick of the forest without looking back. Jocelyne breathed a sigh of relief. "Gone... it's gone" she thought intently, and finally her legs were starting to move again. She barely managed to get back on her feet and leaned against the tree trunk, breathing deeply. The istant she touched the tree was exactly the moment when she felt a vibration. It was as if someone was tapping lightly on the trunk with a hammer. The vibration was very low and she probably wouldn't have noticed it if she hadn't touched the tree. Initially startled, she found that the vibration wasn't coming from the trunk, but rising through the ground. "Is it an earthquake?" she thought, but soon there was a loud crack and some trees behind her clattered. Jocelyne's body froze again as she realized the vibrations were caused by footsteps. She looked out of the tree again and saw a gigantic dinosaur more than thirteen meters long sniffing what was left of the deer, and from how it grunted it didn't seem happy that only a few bones were left. Jocelyne felt dizzy. That was even worse than kaprosuchus! She didn't know what species it was, but it was undoubtedly a predatory dinosaur! If it weren't for the fact that it had three fingers she would have mistaken it for a tyrannosaurus! She knew that this time she had no hope of remaining hidden. It was impossible to deceive the nose of such a predator! She had to go away, and fast! She looked up. The tree had several holds. She had no chance to beat the dinosaur in a running race, but if she climbed high enough it wouldn't have been able to reach her! She began frantically to climb; thanks to her small and light body she was able to climb quite quickly, but she was still halfway when the dinosaur stopped looking at the carcass and started sniffing the air to find more food. "No! Come on! Just a few more meters!" the little girl thought frantically, trying to get up as quickly as possible. Very soon she reached four meters in height, and then five. If she had gone up another two meters she would have been out of the dinosaur's reach... But unfortunately for her the big dinosaur had already smelled her scent. It was walking near the tree blowing from its nostrils to identify the source of the smell. Jocelyne tried to climb even faster, but because of that she didn't notice that one of the branches was already half broken; when she clung to it, the branch broke with a sharp crash and the girl nearly fell to the ground. However, she slipped by at least a meter before finally being able to stop thanks to a more solid branch. When she managed to get up, however, she discovered to her horror that the noise had not been ignored: the huge dinosaur's head was in front of her and was staring at her with its huge eyes. Jocelyne almost hyperventilated. She knew she was a poor meal for such a creature, but that didn't mean it would let her go. After all, a meager amount of proteins is still better than no protein, even for a large predator. Indeed, the dinosaur's jaws opened to reveal long rows of razor-sharp teeth. "No, no, no!" Jocelyne thought intently, staring at the fleshy black uvula. "Please! Please! Please!" The jaws were about to close on her, but a roar stopped the dinosaur. The big head turned and saw another dinosaur appear in the trees. Jocelyne's heart sank, recognizing the spinosaurus.